Steve Judd set to face Alan Trigg in final of 2011 European Snooker Masters Championship
England’s Steve Judd will go head-to-head against Ukraine’s Alan Trigg in the final encounter of 2011 European Snooker Masters Championship on Friday, June 17 at the Dedeman Hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The Masters category pair ousted their respective semi-final opponents, Tom Gleeson and Kurt Desplenter on Thursday, June 16 at the same arena.
Both masters had been superb on the European baize throughout the championship and displayed some outstanding snooker skills. Trigg topped his group with five victories overall in the round-robin
formatted group matches while Judd got second place in his group with four wins before entering the play-off stage.
The play-off stage was yet again a success for Judd as he completed his terrific run with excellent victories over Rene Dikstra 3-1 in the Last-32 round, Yakov Shaashua 4-1 in Last-16, Darren Morgan
5-2 in the quarter-finals and Tom Gleeson 5-2 in the semi-final match.
Judd took a quick 2-0 lead in the semi-final when he grabbed first two scrappy frames by 71-46 and 80-38 with a 44 clearance in the second. Gleeson came back and pulled level at 2-2 after clinching
back-to-back frames. Judd didn’t let Gleeson come at the table after that and with victories in consecutive three frames, he took the match 5-2.
On the other hand, the 52-year-old Trigg made an impressive move from the start of the playoff stage and hopped right into the final match ousting Marcel Bera 3-0 in the Last-32, Miro Popovic in Last-16,
Paul Jamieson 5-2 in the quarter-final and Kurt Desplenter 5-0 in the semi-final.
Trigg seemed in complete control over the table from the very beginning of the semi-final game against the 45-year-old Desplenter from Belgium. The Leeds potter, Trigg, totally outplayed his opponent
and crushed him with a whitewash victory; 5-0 in the end. The overall frame score of the match was 63-33, 55-36, 103(78)-26, 56-43, 83-42.
The veteran’s final clash will definitely be an exciting encounter as both have a strong grip over the game as well as the experience behind the cue. However, Steve Judd has more chances of clinching
the 2011 European Snooker Masters Championship title.
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